"After all, they are just youngsters."
"People chase after fame and fortune, not elegant like the two of us."
The two young shrine attendants chuckled and conversed in light laughter.
Li Hao, who had walked far away, heard them and turned back. He grabbed a few pieces from the Go chip box and tossed them onto five spots on the board. Then he huffed and strode away.
"You brash youth, you..."
The young shrine attendant playing with the white pieces was furious and about to scold him when the boy had already gone far. Angrily averting his gaze, he was about to clean up the disrupted pieces but noticed his friend across the board staring blankly at the game.
To his surprise, he looked down and immediately realized that the difficult situation he was facing had been reversed. The placement of the five pieces had opened up a new territory for him.
The key was that one less and they would be isolated pieces, undetectable.
"This..."
...